CM Punk on Talking Dead Talking About Wrestling???

   Out here in the WWE Universe we have been nervously awaiting the slightest hint of news to speculate upon. We have been searching desperately for the tiniest clue as to whether or not CM Punk will return to the WWE soon.  His contract with the WWE only remains until July.  

   This year, July is approaching a little too quickly for our tastes and things are starting to become very uncomfortable.  CM Punk hasn't made the slightest public peep as to his intentions and neither has the WWE.  His twitter feed has gone silent yet still ominously remains.  Aside from the first, single statement made to the conveniently and almost suspiciously present TMZ reporter after being screwed at the Royal Rumble, nobody has any real info on Punk and Vince Mcmahon's only public statement about Punk is that he is "on sabbatical".

    When it was announced before last week's Raw that Hulk Hogan would be making a special announcement, we were elated with anticipation that this would surely be the announcement of CM Punk's return.  As cool as the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal is, we were crushed anyways when we found that was all that Hogan had come to proclaim.
    
    We have driven ourselves to the brink of madness attempting to imagine every possible WWE story line that could have Punk returning by Wrestlemania, which is now just weeks away.  Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday however, we find those hopes dashed as the paths to those stories become hopelessly blocked off.  As much as we may be proud participants in this YES movement and devout fans of Daniel Bryan, some hopeful dream was crushed last week when it was revealed that it would be Bryan finally luring Triple H back into the ring at Wrestlemania and that Daniel Bryan would also be the much needed face to step into the bizarre and unthinkable heel vs heel scenario that has become the championship match.  We are left clinging now to only the slimmest thread of hope that by some miracle CM Punk will surprise us all with some kind of appearance at Wrestlemania.  It is out of sheer self-preservation that I do not let my mind linger further over the complex myriad of events that would have to take place for that to happen.

    When CM Punk was spotted sitting next to Dana White at a UFC event, the internet lit up.  Instantly the rumors spread that we’d be seeing CM Punk trying his hand at MMA as a professional and possibly even stepping right into the UFC like some other Paul Heyman guy had done a while back.  Still though, there was no official comment from Punk of the sort, no word from the WWE and not a single word from Dana White about his guest that evening. 

    
    On Sunday night though, CM Punk made his first televised appearance since, at a live taping of Talking Dead; a roundtable discussion show about AMC’s The Walking Dead.  We tuned in, again anxiously anticipating some hint of Punk’s intentions.  Our hopes were high for just the slightest nod to a possible return to the squared circle of the WWE.  It was clear right away however that great care had been taken to keep from revealing anything of Punk’s career, leaving us instead with only a rich and perhaps very layered subtext to decipher.

    He was introduced on Talking Dead as “Phil Brooks a.k.a. CM Punk”.  When the other guest, Yvette Nicole Brown was introduced, she was introduced as being from the television series Community.  Melissa McBride, even on a discussion show about AMC’s The Walking Dead, was even introduced as “Melissa McBride who of course plays Carol (on The Walking Dead).”  I owe it to my wife for pointing out the strangeness that there was no frame of reference provided for watchers unfamiliar with wrestling as to who CM Punk is.  He was not introduced as being a WWE Superstar or former WWE Superstar.  In fact, there was no mention of wrestling at all during the show. 

    We cannot help but allow this to get our hopes up.  If Punk is truly finished with Mcmahon and the WWE for good, wouldn’t the news already be out about the end of their contract?  Is it possible that CM Punk’s presence or lack thereof within the WWE wasn’t mentioned on Talking Dead because there are some negotiations taking place between Punk and the authority or even maybe because the mysteriousness and the worry among the WWE universe has been written into a WWE story line that we have hardly seen the beginning of yet? 

    There were a few times during Talking Dead Sunday night in which it seemed CM Punk’s view toward the state of the zombie apocalypse might just bleed over into his own life a bit.  He was accused by Yvette Brown of “being sweet tonight” and made one bold gesture of saying that he’s a new person, stating almost gleefully a newfound penchant for forgiveness.  Could he have been thinking of the WWE when saying this?  With this being his first real, scheduled television appearance since the Royal Rumble, how could he have not been thinking of the WWE? 

    Our hearts stir with these possibilities; perhaps the last hope that CM Punk will return to the WWE soon.  In wrapping up the show, host Chris Hardwick stated that watchers can follow Phil Brooks on twitter under the handle @CMPunk and the camera panned over to Punk just in time to catch him raising his eyebrows to the audience in a gesture that suggested, “Maybe….but maybe not.”  For the time being, you can still follow him on twitter but CM Punk certainly isn’t saying much.  Our hope wanes ever more as July draws near but hope is just one of those funny things… and maybe, just like CM Punk, it isn’t down and out just yet.